Time Saving Google Analytics Shortcuts

Published:

By: Drew McManus

In: Metrics & Analytics

Did you know that the standard browser version Google Analytics (GA) offers a series of keyboard shortcuts? Surprise! They currently come in two types: application shortcuts and date range shortcuts. If you use GA, you know the pain of click overload in order to get where you’re going and these shortcuts will help marginalize that impact.

Time Saving Shortcuts Inside Google Analytics

Date Range Basics

Just in case you’re new to GA, let’s do a quick overview of what the date range menu can do. Out of the box, GA several predefined ranges:

  • Custom: Data for your custom date range. You can set the start/end days using the calendar to the left of date range panel or type in the date manually using the existing date format (three-character month / two-digit day / four-digit year).
  • Today: Data available for the current calendar date up until the time of your selection
  • Yesterday: Data for the previous calendar date
  • Last Week: Data for Sunday through Saturday of the previous calendar week
  • Last Month: Data for the first to last day of the previous calendar month
  • Last Seven Days: Data for the last seven calendar days (not including current day)
  • Last 30 days: Data for the last 30 calendar days (not including current day)

There’s also a handy preset that allows you to compare your date range with a custom range, previous period (the immediately preceding identical range of dates), or same range from the previous year.

Date Range Shortcuts Via Keyboard Commands

GA keyboard shortcuts can be used from any screen, you can see which commands are available by shift + ?

shortcuts

Here they are written out:

GENERAL SHORTCUTS

  • shift + ? Open keyboard shortcut help
  • h Search help center (Analytics Support)
  • a open account panel
  • s or / Search for a report
  • shift + d Go to the default dashboard of the current view
  • m Toggle the left-hand navigation menu

DATE RANGE SHORTCUTS

  • d t Set date range to today
  • d y Set date range to yesterday
  • d w Set date range to last week
  • d m Set date range to last month
  • d 7 Set date range to last 7 days
  • d 3 0 Set date range to last 30 days
  • d c Toggle date comparison mode to the previous period of whatever you are looking at (love this one!)
  • d x Toggle date comparison mode to the previous year of the period you are looking at

Quick Month Select

If you’re not a keyboard command kind of person, you still get one shortcut trick to play with: to select an entire month, simply click the month name.

select entire month by clicking the month name

Drew McManus
Author
Drew McManus
In addition to my consulting business, I'm also the Principal of Venture Industries Online but don’t let that title fool you into thinking I'm just a tech geek. I bring 20+ years of global broad-based arts consulting experience to the table to help clients break the cycle of choosing one-size-fits-none solutions and instead, deliver options allowing them to get ahead of the tech curve instead of trying to catch up by going slower. With the vision of legacy support strategy and the delights of creative insights, my mission is to deliver a sophisticated next generation technology designed especially for the field of performing arts. The first step in that journey began in 2010 when The Venture Platform was released, a purpose-designed managed website development solution designed especially for arts organizations and artists. For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, lead a team of intrepid arts pros to hack the arts, lead an arts business incubator, and love a good coffee drink.
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